“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1

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Buddha links the positive aspect of conscience to a
pure heart and a calm, well-directed mind: "when the mind is face to face
with the Truth, a self-luminous spark of thought is revealed at the
inner core of ourselves and, by analogy, all reality."

Many state Physicians Health Program “agents” do not have any
qualifications other than those to do substance abuse treatment “peer
mentoring” through A.A. or 12-step programs.
PHP or ASAM medical professionals may have limited licensure, may be
monitored themselves by state medical boards, and may not have access to a DEA
controlled drug box because of previous drug infractions. Their scope of
practice may have been curtailed by the state medical board to only include
working with persons with addiction problems or doing workplace or workmen’s
compensation evaluations, so as to limit their contact with patients.

Because of their limited training and education and the limits set by
the state medical boards that monitor their own scope of practice, ASAM fellows
tend to view all physical and mental health problems as “co-occurring”
and secondary in importance to addiction problems. With disregard to professional standards of
practice, “dual diagnosis” of psychiatric labels are freely applied to patients
in spite of the fact that most ASAM fellows are not formally trained in the
diagnosis and treatment of “mental disorders.” [i] ASAM does not acknowledge that many
psychiatric diagnoses are subjective, imprecise, and subject to change over
time.[ii] They apply their limited knowledge of the
DSM-IV-TR without supervision or accountability to professional standards. All patients are assumed to have a diagnosis
of the disease of addiction – even when no evidence of addiction is
present. According to the A.A. or
12-step model, the patient is in that case just in denial. The client is always
guilty of addiction and in need of expensive monitoring and treatment or he/she
will lose their medical license. This was true in the case of Dr. Leon Masters
MD when he was threatened professionally and then falsely diagnosed as having
an addiction problem, falsely imprisoned at Talbott Marsh Recovery Center in
Atlanta GA and had his professional reputation as a doctor destroyed by then
ASAM president George Douglas Talbott MD.

George
Douglas Talbott MD wrote his own criteria of what constitutes addiction, based
on the A.A. and 12-step model.[iii] When examining this diagnostic protocol, it
becomes evident that the symptoms described actually represent symptoms
consistent with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
ASAM Fellows of the FSPHP base their diagnostic criteria for addiction
on symptoms that the valid application of the criteria in the DSM-IV-TR might instead
attribute to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Acute and Complex).

The
ASAM and the FSPHP never confer a diagnosis that does not include addiction as
a co-occurring and predominant diagnosis. Charting two co-occurring diagnosis
increases revenue with little increase time spent.

“Post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) can occur when someone is confronted by an overwhelmingly
scary, actual real threat to life and limb, or to something as important as that,
and in the face of that threat, [finds himself] helpless to do anything about
it. The diagnosis was first introduced in relation to Vietnam veterans, some of
whom had had terrifying combat or prisoner-of-war experiences that left them
anxious, depressed, paranoid, over reactive to loud noises, and susceptible to
vivid nightmares and flashbacks of the traumatic situation. Research
shows that the longer that people feel helpless in frightening situations, and
the less control they feel they have, the more likely they are to develop PTSD.”
[iv]

One
of the hallmarks of all the Straights and Straight, Inc. descendant programs,
such as Kids Helping Kids, KIDS of New Jersey (KIDS), etc. was that the whole
program was deliberately designed to make participants feel powerless.

PTSD
is a diagnosis that has been historically best treated with psychotherapy. Acute PTSD can be treated with Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the patient can recover to full function without
further need for monitoring or further psychiatric treatment. PTSD also has been proven to respond best to
psychotherapy not medication, although some medications have shown to have
limited application. It is important to
recognize the difference between PTSD, which is a psychiatric injury, and other
clinical conditions of mental illness.
This is a legal as well as a medical concept with enormous
implications. For example, a sole
diagnosis of PTSD would permit a sexual assault victim or domestic violence
victim to testify in a court of law as a credible witness.

DSM-IV is a categorical classification that divides mental disorders
into types based on criteria sets with defining features. This naming of
categories is the traditional method of organizing and transmitting information
in everyday life and has been the fundamental approach used in all systems of
medical diagnosis. A categorical approach to classification works best when all
members of a diagnostic class are homogeneous, when there are clear boundaries
between classes, and when the different classes are mutually exclusive.
Nonetheless, the limitations of the categorical classification system must be
recognized.
In DSM-IV, there is no assumption that each
category of mental disorder is a completely discrete entity with absolute
boundaries dividing it from other mental disorders or from no mental disorder.
There is also no assumption that all individuals described as having the same
mental disorder are alike in all important ways. The clinician using DSM-IV
should therefore consider that individuals sharing a diagnosis are likely to be
heterogeneous even in regard to the defining features of the diagnosis and that
boundary cases will be difficult to diagnose in any but a probabilistic fashion.
This outlook allows greater flexibility in the use of the system, encourages
more specific attention to boundary cases, and emphasizes the need to capture
additional clinical information that goes beyond diagnosis. In recognition of
the heterogeneity of clinical presentations, DSM-IV often includes polythetic
criteria sets, in which the individual need only present with a subset of items
from a longer list (e.g., the diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder
requires only five out of nine items.)

Altering the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-V

The American Psychiatric
Association publishes an authoritative manual regarding diagnosis of mental
disorders. This manual called the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is periodically updated to
reflect the most recent findings in the field.
A newly revised first draft of the DSM-V or the fifth edition of the
American Psychiatric Association's [i] (APA) DSM is due for
publication in May 2013. In this new
DSM-V draft it is suggested that “Eliminating
the separate categories of Substance Abuse and Substance Dependence and
replacing them with a single unified category of Substance Use Disorder” and
instead labeling the overall section ‘The Addiction and Related Disorders’. This was a change in wording which the ASAM/ABAM
heavily lobbied for as it would change the diagnosis of Substance Abuse (in the
DSM-IV) to instead Substance Use Disorder under the section heading of
addictive disorder.[ii] This simple change would have the result of
further legitimizing ASAM and their new ABAM specialty and expanding their
scope of practice.[iii] ASAM fellows support A.A. and 12-step program
principles and maintain that addiction is a lifelong brain disorder requiring lifelong treatment. This treatment bolstered with a DSM diagnosis
is often mandated by court orders and censure by professional licensing boards.
The financial benefits to the newly established ABAM would be enormous.

The FSPHP is an independent nonprofit corporation which controls the vast
majority of standard "Physician Health Programs" (PHP's)
operated by medical licensing boards in all 50 states. Also known as
"diversion programs,” PHP's were originally designed to provide a
therapeutic avenue for physicians with "chemical
dependency" (alcoholism and drug addictions) to access
confidential treatment with protection from professional investigation and/or
disciplinary action. Many PHP's have gradually expanded
their missions to include monitoring and treatment management for
physicians with mental illness, and some are now expanding even further to
encompass monitoring and treatment management for all physicians with possible
“diseases of impairment” (defined as alcohol and drug use disorders,
psychiatric disorders, disruptive disorders, psychosexual disorders, metabolic
disorders, and physical disorders -- including diabetes, hypertension, and
asthma). These increasingly broad missions have not changed the fact
that the majority of state PHP's are still run by medical directors who are
qualified only in "addiction medicine" and have supervisory
committees largely staffed by addiction specialists and members of
the general public who are “in recovery” from various addictions and who
need not be physicians at all.

The Federation of State Physician Advocacy Groups
claims to be an informal group of concerned and dedicated medical and legal
professionals who wish to remain anonymous, in order to reduce our exposure to
retaliation or slander because of the controversial nature of our free speech. The Federation of State Physician Advocacy
Groups (FSPAG)
was founded in late 2007 as an independent physician-run alternative
to the Federation of State Physician Health Programs (FSPHP).

[ii] The Federation of State Physician Advocacy
Groups (FSPAG)
was founded in late 2007 as an independent physician-run alternative
to the Federation of State Physician Health Programs (FSPHP). http://www.fspag.org/5.html.

"To
move from one unselfish action to another with God in mind. Only there, delight
and stillness."

Marcus Aurelius

Mind-Control and 12 Steps philosophy

The techniques learned by
Dr. Ruth Fox in mind control experiments using alcoholics as clinical subjects
were easily adapted to silence whistleblowers. Program participants are
required to abandon their strong sense of self and embrace the judgment and
directives of the group philosophy and mentors. The concept translates to a
“client” becoming obedient to those above him/her in the hierarchy of the 12
Step program. Forced submission and
subservience are hallmarks of the 12 Step program. This can conflict with a human rights
perspective which asserts that all human beings deserve recognition of their
inherent dignity and are equal, having inalienable rights. Abusive rehabilitative treatment programs
violate human rights when they force detrimental obedience and subservience to
the “Higher Power” and to those in authority within the program, regardless of
related circumstances.

The rigid dogma demeans and
damages the person who is an innocent crime victim or victim of
trauma. For persons suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),
one of the most important healing elements is the concept of empowerment and
personal control. To force whistleblowers, victims of sexual assault,
crime victims or combat trauma victims to admit moral lapse due to defects of
character is contrary to what is necessary for recovery from the injuries that
inflicted vulnerability. Thus, programs
that espouse the rigid approach of 12 Step philosophies are contraindicated for
populations under consideration as target markets by certain industries and
affiliated groups.

There have been several U.S.A.
Congressional investigations into abusive treatment programs and numerous state
investigations, but they multiply and thrive despite exposure of their abusive
methods. These aberrant systems have usurped authority over the quality
control system within the medical community and are entrenched as the
“monitors” of professional behavior. They are well-positioned to
permit financial exploitation of the systems all citizens need for safety and
health. Their ability to harm professionals acting with integrity when
they report the illegal or unethical activities of these harmful enterprises is
a clear threat to our nation’s security. At this time no agency exists to
assist a medical professional targeted by the corrupted interests, and this
must change.

"The sight of her tears grieved me; but I soon realized
that she was weeping over her failure, without caring about what was happening
inside me...We might still have come to an understanding if, instead of asking
everybody to pray for my soul, she had given me a little confidence and
sympathy. I know now what prevented her from doing so: she had too much to pay
back, too many wounds to salve, to put herself in another's place. In actual
doing she made every sacrifice, but her feelings did not take her out of
herself. Besides, how could she have tried to understand me since she avoided
looking into her own heart? As for discovering an attitude that would not have
set us apart, nothing in her life had ever prepared her for such a thing: the
unexpected sent her into a panic, because she had been taught never to think,
act or feel except in a ready-made framework."

"Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself." Confucius

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who
points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds
could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is
actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and
blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and
again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but
who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who
at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
neither know victory nor defeat."

Theodore
Roosevelt- Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic",
delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

Medical Whistleblower Commitment to Non-Violence

Medical Whistleblower has a commitment to improving the protection of all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as defined in, among others, the following regional and international legal instruments:

• UN legal instruments pertaining to human rights, including: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the international covenants on civil and political rights and on economic, social and cultural rights; the conventions providing for monitoring mechanisms (torture, racial discrimination, discrimination against women, the rights of the child, rights of migrant workers and their families); and the conventions and standards of the International Labor Organization;

• Special procedures and non-treaty mechanisms of the United Nations;

• The Declaration on Human Rights Defenders;

• The UN resolution establishing the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights defenders;

• The United Nations guidelines on human rights defenders;

In addition, Medical Whistleblower upholds the principle of a code of ethical and moral conduct that all means used by Medical Whistleblower will not include violence - We exclude the use of violence to advance political aims. We work with and in collaboration with existing governmental structures and systems but put pressure on governments in a non-violent manner to achieve human rights protections and goals.

"The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience."

“When we call anything a person’s right, we mean that he has a
valid claim on society to protect him in the possession of it, either by the
force of law, or by that of education and opinion”

John Stuart Mill

"The adversarial system of justice is by nature unfair and unjust. It favours the strongover the weak. It accentuates social and cultural differences, favouring the rich whoare able to engage and pay for the services of one or more layers."

Justice MinisterMadame Guigou, 1999

“Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.”
―Martin Luther

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“The most powerful individual in the state will be cautious of committing any flagrant invasion of another’s right, when he knows that the fact of his oppression must be examined and decided by twelve indifferent men.”

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“I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something
that I can do.”
― Edward Everett Hale

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IF YOU NEED HELP

Vietnam
Veterans of America, Crisis Phone Number. Special
Notice: If you are a veteran in emotional crisis and need help RIGHT NOW, call
this toll-free number 1-800-273-8255 available 24/7, and tell them you are a
veteran. All calls are confidential. http://www.vva.org/.

Veterans’
Crisis Intervention Hotline: 1-888-899-9377.
A Crisis Intervention Hotline has been established by the VA Heartland Network
to assist veterans who may be dealing with a mental health crisis or difficult
issue in their lives. The hotline will also aid family members or friends of
veterans who need help in assisting a veteran in crisis.

Safe Harborincludes links to find medical doctors (by zip code) who can assist with helping people safely get off of psychiatric drugs and medical personnel who will treat people without the use of psychiatric drugs.